6. The day Velcro took over the world!
Literally, Velcro can be found almost everywhere. Shoes use it, clothes have it, and even NASA likes it – a lot. And it all started with one dog and his owner. Swiss engineer George de Mestral was out for a hunting trip with his furry friend, and noticed how burrs would constantly to stick to his dog’s fur. Mestral decided to see what makes the burr so hard to remove by observing it under a microscope. He noticed the tiny “hooks” that make burrs work effectively. Mestral experimented for years with a variety of textiles before arriving at the newly invented nylon—though it wasn’t until two decades later that NASA’s fondness for velcro popularised the tech.
In 1957 George de Mestral formed Velcro Industries Ltd to market a novel hook and loop tape fastener. By1967 the company had logged annual sales of $10 million. His company continued to grow, incorporating other patents until by 1995 Velcro Industries ltd had sales of more than $150 million.